1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heart cam and damper unit used for the opening/closing control of a drawer-type accommodating apparatus such as an ashtray, a table or a cup holder which is mounted in a vehicle compartment, for example, as well as an opening/closing controlling device using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A drawer-type accommodating apparatus such as an ashtray, a table, a cup holder or a card holder is installed in a vehicle compartment of an automobile or the like. A push-open type lock device using a heart cam is generally adopted for such an accommodating apparatus.
As such a lock device, JP-A-2002-106238 discloses a push-open type lock device for an accommodating apparatus having an opening and an opening and closing member for opening and closing this opening, which includes a hard pin member provided on one of the opening and the opening and closing member, and a cam member provided rotatablly on the other one of the opening and the opening and closing member and rotatablly urged in one direction by urging means. The lock device is constructed such that, in conjunction with the opening and closing operation of the opening and closing member, the pin member and the cam member are engaged to undergo relative movement, and the pin member collides with a predetermined portion of a cam face formed on the cam member during the relative movement. A soft member is provided at a portion of the cam member where the pin member collides in the lock device.
In addition, in such a drawer-type accommodating apparatus, a movable portion is constantly spring urged in an opening direction (drawing direction), and if the pin member is disengaged from a heart cam, the movable portion is adapted to be automatically opened by the spring force. Such a drawer-type accommodating apparatus is constructed such that a drawer portion springs out forcibly by the spring force when the pin member is disengaged from the heart cam by slightly pushing in the drawer portion. Therefore, a damper is provided to damp that force and send out the drawer portion safely at a fixed speed. In addition, if the drawer portion could be pushed in speedily with a strong force, the drawer portion and an accommodating apparatus body would collide with each other strongly, and collision noise would be produced. However, since the damper restricts the speed of the drawer portion to a safe and fixed speed against the speedy and strong force, the drawer portion and the accommodating apparatus body do not collide with each other strongly. Therefore, the occurrence of the collision noise can be prevented.
An example of the accommodating apparatus having such a damper is disclosed in JP-A-2000-247175. An ashtray apparatus for a vehicle disclosed in the publication includes a housing mounted on a vehicle body side; an accommodating body held in such a manner as to be capable of being drawn into and out of the housing; a rack member having a rack provided on one of the accommodating body and a vehicle body-side member including the housing and extending continuously in the drawing-in-and-out direction of the accommodating body; a pinion with a damper having a damper which is provided on the other one of the accommodating body and the vehicle body-side member including the housing, rotates by meshing with the rack in conjunction with the drawing in and out of the accommodating body, and restricts the rotational speed; a gear with a spiral spring meshing with the pinion with a damper and having a spiral spring for urging the pinion with a damper in a direction of pushing out the accommodating body; a retaining mechanism for retaining the accommodating body at an accommodating position and capable of canceling the retention; and an initial urging means provided for urging the accommodating body in a pushing-out direction only during an initial portion when the accommodating body begins to be opened.
JP-A-2002-106238 and JP-A-2000-247175 are known as related art.
However, in the conventional accommodating apparatus with a damper shown in JP-A-2000-247175, the lock device which has the heart cam and the pin member, and the damper device which imparts a braking force to the movement of the movable portion are separately assembled. Therefore, there have been problems in that it is necessary to individually assemble a plurality of parts, and that parts management becomes troublesome since the number of component parts increases.